bigwavedave

I suspect it will be very firm (icy?) after all the melting and rain and such. They're not set up to refresh the slopes midseason with man made so there may be some thin spots. Maybe Russ or Ken can provide a first hand report, I'm just guessing.

East of the Mississippi (or ice hardened race course everywhere)─metal and dampening is your friend. Soft snow of the west─it matters not.(metal edges are still a nice option though)

Surf Quebec, are these Zipfits that you're talking about? What model did you get and did it change the stiffness of the boot? RE: Cant discs and UPZ boot ramp. I simply switched my discs, putting the 6 in the front and the 3 in the rear and that felt best for me, but I had to move my whole stance 1cm forward to keep me centered in the sweet spot on the board. I tried 6 & 6, and even with widening my stance, I felt less stable.

After two days at Indianhead, I headed up to the Porkies Friday hoping to avoid early P. day crowds and to see some different scenery. I look forward to riding with you on your home turf one of these days.Probably my favorite place to carve east of Aspen Hopefully winter will return in March

Here's another one from ground hog day at Indianhead. It was a good day and I don't mind reliving it It's one of my favorite features at Indianhead─there are a few runs that feed into a relatively flat section just above this steep faced, rounded knoll. As you approach with some leftover speed from the upper sections, the slope disappears all around you and it always feels like a leap-of-faith as you dive over the edge into the first turn.

It's more like losing all the clutter in your head and being in the moment, a super awareness of everything around you, not just you carving, but other people on the hill (even the ones behind you), those heads turning on that chair above (it's all a show─"pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"). It's all part of the experience. If there was no one else on the hill, it could be a more meditative (losing yourself) experience. Either way, the space/time continuum is stretched and distorted as you flow through it linking high speed carves to the bottom. If you get to admire where you've been (tracks─there's a whole thread for that) and where you might go next, as you ride back up─no guilt there─all part of the enjoyment...mmm, maybe I am a narcissist...now I hate myself.

Last day of my north country safari ends at Porcupine Mts. There's a lot of snow here. They had close to a foot last week. It was sunny and warm Friday─the thermometer at the top of the hill read 60° in afternoon and the hill looked like it was steaming when you looked up at it from the bottom.Surfy carving on uneven, soft groom and only about 10 cars in the parking lotAll with great views of the greatest of the great lakescomplete with bergy bits

Day 2 at Indianhead, 1st tracks, first chair, next to last chair, whew, long day. Snow better than yesterday after grooming in the new snow. Sun was elusive, with occasional glorious peeks. Russ drove over from Duluth for the day. Rode the big boards most of the day.

As marvelous as the above photo is (I hate to do this), but it's time to get back in the trenches...on the iron range of northern Minnesota...in the heart of the boreal forest... Giants Ridge, yesterday, the first of several trenches that were still there at the end of the day: :

Indianhead today: Bright overcast day with about 1/2" lake effect snow through the day and peeks of dim sun. The 25-30mph winds yesterday scoured the lower steep pitches making the snow there "firmer" than the rest of the hill. Still quite good carving to be had (1-2" deep trenches most everywhere). Snow making at the top while temps are cold. Hopefully they'll push some down the hill tonight. Should be good tomorrowOne run on the Incline, then switched to the safari Rev...tool of the day

Giants Ridge today. Up in the Superior boreal forest. Even though it got up to 40 yesterday and stayed below freezing today, the snow was as good as it gets Partly sunny turned mostly sunny with 25-30mph NW winds and snow showers visible off to the east. If you haven't been here this year, it looks very different with a new chalet and great bar and grill. Plans for 2 new chair lifts; a high speed quad on Sarajevo and fixed quad on the race hill. The first of many deep trenches that were still there at the end of the day, even after all the ski racers had at it in the afternoon (training for tomorrow's races) Off to Indianhead tomorrow

Lutsen Monday. Bright sun, plush packed powder, no crowds. Worth coming up here before the spring madness. One of the best days I've had here. Made first tracks over on Moose Mt. (after the patrol sweep) Made a mess of White Wolf over on Moose with some deep trenches. I'm not proud of it...well maybe I am. Giants Ridge tomorrow. There's a lot of snow up here, especially inland!

Spirit Sunday. Conditions still pretty good. Snow was dense/firm after the fog and drizzle from the day before, but still very carvable.

Thanks for the great videos Ryan! ...and look what cued up on youtube at the end of one of the ATC videos......pretty sure this is the same André... ...as this guy....(almost as good as a Montucky slider) (photo from last year's ATC) Hope to see you all next year

Maybe winter will return in March, but I feel the need to get some turns on good snow before the forecast thaw. Heading up to Spirit Sunday, Lutsen Monday, Giants Ridge Tuesday, Indianhead Wed/Thurs, and maybe the Porkies Friday?

Thanks Eric. I love how just looking at tracks, you can imagine (or reimagine) the sensation of making them. ...and it's all the sweeter having a blank canvas of great snow.

Subzero first tracks on some soft Spirit groom today

First tracks, subzero temps, bright sun and zero crowdson refreshed slopes The weapons Smiling carvers

It's apparently a common problem with UPZ's. To prevent in the future, make sure top buckles are very snug so there is no play between leg and cuff. This was advice given to me by racers on the NorAm and world cup circuit regarding the UPZ 10s. One of those beer can cozy things cut in half makes a quick & easy cuff cushion.

He's an instructor from Whistler. We were roommates at the St Moritz last year. He came with a Swoard, tested a lot of boards and really fell in love that Kessler. Pretty near perfect form! André

We used to call her the Miminator when she was racing, but she thought it was ridiculous, and it probably was. Thanks for the offer for the pass , but apparently she gets a free pass as a G-Team coach/employee. See you Thursday. Looks like there's a nice amount of snow falling ...And now Mimi has to coach Thursday I'll still be there making those first tracks

Mimi is coming up with me on ThursdayShould be nice with the new snowSee ya out there.

I've got two, even faster

Ahh, one more, from the chair. Russ making tracks in 1" fresh on groom at Indianhead, riding the Incline, on GroundHog Day.....

Apparently the forward ramp of the UPZ boot is greater than 6°. Why not try to neutralize that with a 6° lift in the front? If you spent much time riding softboot style before switching to steeper angles and hardboots you may have some leftover "bad" habits such as counter rotating (away from the direction you're turning) on heelside turns. A video of you riding would make things fairly obvious and eliminate all the guesswork here.